Brenda Mejia, head of operations for Gatik, was named an overall winner of the Rising Stars category for this year’s Pros to Know award, presented by Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
As the head of operations for Gatik, Mejia leads and oversees the company's entire operations landscape. Her contributions span multiple facets of the business, from market expansion and product development to operational efficiency and employee engagement, with an overarching focus on leveraging autonomous technology to revolutionize middle-mile logistics. This includes spearheading key initiatives to optimize the unique needs of AV fleets, such as route planning, fleet management, and service reliability.
Under her leadership, Gatik developed proprietary systems that integrate advanced data analytics and machine learning to optimize fleet performance. Mejia has also been at the forefront of identifying new market opportunities, forming strategic partnerships, and driving revenue growth, all of which have contributed to Gatik's continued expansion, serving 10-plus Fortune 500 customers. She also continually fosters key partnerships with the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to ensure compliance with safety standards and regulatory requirements. Additionally, Mejia played an integral role in shaping the company’s recently announced third-party safety assessment framework, which fosters transparency, trust, and compliance within the AV industry.
Mejia also played a pivotal role in Gatik’s strategic partnership with ITOCHU, which leverages Gatik’s expertise in middle-mile autonomous trucking and ITOCHU’s global logistics network to develop solutions that address critical challenges in supply chain efficiency and scalability. And, she played a critical role in the company’s engagement with Isuzu Motors, leading to an investment that accelerated the development of Gatik’s autonomous fleet.
We talked exclusively with Mejia to learn more about her efforts in championing innovative safety frameworks and the importance of optimizing AV fleets.
Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Let’s first talk about you. Tell me a little bit about yourself and your journey to get to this current stage in your career?
Brenda Mejia: My career path has been anything but conventional. As one of Gatik’s first employees, I embraced a multifaceted role, from managing human resources and finance, to leading marketing and recruiting initiatives. I quickly learned that success isn’t defined by job titles but by a relentless focus on execution and impact. This mindset became the foundation of my career and played a key role in Gatik’s rapid rise as an industry leader. Today, as head of operations, I oversee Gatik’s entire operations landscape from market expansion and customer satisfaction to operational efficiency and employee engagement. I am responsible for managing a diverse team of over 100-plus employees across North America, which includes overseeing the company’s central ops team, daily operations of drivers and dispatchers, guiding the activities of supervisors and regional managers, and coordinating the efforts of recruiters.
Supply & Demand Chain Executive: One of the things outlined in your submission is how you’ve spearheaded key initiatives to optimize the unique needs of AV fleets. What does this entail? And why is this important?
Mejia: As the founding team member, I was deeply involved in building the company from the ground up, laying the foundation across all key departments.
Beyond setting the operational framework, I have led strategic initiatives to optimize fleet performance and scalability. I spearheaded the development of proprietary systems leveraging data analytics and machine learning to streamline workflow management, automate task allocation, and improve resource utilization. These advancements have significantly enhanced delivery frequency, end-to-end visibility, and cost efficiency, reinforcing Gatik’s leadership in the autonomous middle-mile logistics space.
I have been deeply committed to building and maintaining strong relationships with our partners. By ensuring reliability, transparency, and seamless integration into our customers' supply chains, we have positioned Gatik as a trusted leader in autonomous middle-mile logistics. Our ability to consistently deliver efficiency, cost savings, and operational excellence has reinforced this trust and strengthened long-term partnerships.
Beyond customer relationships, I have also focused on driving innovation and scalability, ensuring our autonomous fleet meets the highest standards of performance and safety. Through continuous optimization, strategic expansion, and a relentless focus on execution, we have not only met but exceeded industry expectations. As Gatik continues to scale, my priority remains on fostering trust, expanding our market reach, and redefining the future of autonomous logistics.
Supply & Demand Chain Executive: Over the past year, you developed and launched Gatik’s third-party safety assessment framework. What does this mean for the autonomous trucking space?
Mejia: Gatik’s third-party safety assessment framework represents a groundbreaking step toward fostering transparency, trust, and compliance within the autonomous vehicle industry. The framework encompasses over 700 identified safety portfolios and includes a rigorous evaluation of the company’s organizational safety culture, engineering quality, cybersecurity, vehicle safety, and safety case alignment to UL4600. Central to this effort, Gatik has engaged two companies that, combined, provide the expert resourcing and independence necessary to scale safety -- Edge Case Research and TÜV SÜD. This exhaustive process ensures that all stakeholders, including customers, federal, state and local government, the first responder community and the public have confidence in the safety of Gatik’s technology and deployment practices. This comprehensive and independently validated assessment sets a new benchmark for safety and compliance in autonomous trucking. It also ensures Gatik meets the highest standards for safety as it prepares to launch freight-only (driverless) operations at scale this year.
Supply & Demand Chain Executive: You’ve also been instrumental in forging strategic partnerships with ITOCHU and Isuzu Motors, all while championing innovative safety frameworks. How do these partnerships further strengthen vehicle performance and driver safety?
Mejia: Gatik’s partnership with companies like ITOCHU and Isuzu have been instrumental to our growth, providing the operational expertise, manufacturing capabilities, and investment needed to drive our commercial expansion. In May, we announced a strategic collaboration with Isuzu to accelerate mass-production of SAE Level 4 (L4), production-ready, autonomous trucks. As part of this partnership, a dedicated production facility will be established in 2027 to produce autonomous trucks at scale. Additionally, Isuzu has invested $30 million in Gatik to support its commercial expansion and the deployment of freight-only operations across America’s supply chain. This first-of-its-kind partnership is a major step toward unlocking the full potential of autonomous delivery, improving speed and efficiency in order fulfillment, reducing costs, and ensuring dedicated middle-mile capacity to strengthen supply chain resilience.
Supply & Demand Chain Executive: If you could have a conversation with your younger self, what would you tell her?
Mejia: From the very beginning, our vision has always been more than just enhancing logistics; it’s about redefining an entire industry, and unlocking the true advantages of autonomous delivery including increased road safety, boosting the supply chain, and creating new and exciting jobs for generations to come. As one of Gatik’s first employees, I recognized the tremendous challenges ahead. Instead of shying away, I embraced them. What started as a handful of desks in a small office has grown into one of the industry’s leading autonomous trucking companies securing multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts with Fortune 500 companies like Walmart, Tyson Foods, and Kroger. Gatik is not just transforming America’s middle mile; we are setting a new standard for the future of autonomous logistics. Looking back, I would tell my younger self: trust the vision, lean into the challenges, and never underestimate the impact of bold, relentless execution.
Supply & Demand Chain Executive: The Rising Stars category recognizes young or newer professionals whose achievements, hard work and vision have shaped the supply chain network. What advice do you have for other young rising stars entering the supply chain space?
Mejia: Be relentless. America’s supply chain is facing historic challenges. The truck driver shortage reached an unprecedented high of more than 80,000 vacancies in 2021 and is expected to double by 2031, according to the American Trucking Association. This comes on the backdrop of a federal report that found the U.S. must move 50% more freight by 2050 to keep pace with industry demand. These market trends are already impacting supply chains, leading to potential delays in delivery, product shortages, and increased shipping costs. For young professionals entering the space, this presents a unique opportunity—not just to adapt but to lead. The future of logistics depends on those willing to embrace change, challenge the status quo, and drive innovation. I am continually inspired by the bright young talent coming to Gatik - passionate leaders who are not just adapting to change, but driving it forward. Their resilience and innovative spirit are shaping the future of logistics and ensuring a more efficient, reliable, and scalable supply chain for years to come.
Supply & Demand Chain Executive: What are some things not addressed above that would be pertinent to include in the article detailing your strengths, achievements, overall goals, etc.?
Mejia: The future is bright for autonomous trucking companies like Gatik. Over the next months, my focus is on laying the groundwork to scale Gatik’s autonomous freight-only operations. Working in close partnership with federal, state and local authorities, Gatik’s freight-only deployments will involve consistent, repeated delivery runs multiple times per day, seven days per week, unlocking the true advantages of autonomous delivery: increased speed and responsiveness when fulfilling orders, reduced costs, and dedicated capacity across the supply chain’s middle mile. This will require a robust operational framework to ensure the seamless integration of Gatik’s autonomous vehicles across multiple delivery networks, in multiple markets, for multiple customers. Such an achievement will also require the expansion of new and existing partnerships, an effort that I will help lead. My efforts will look to build on Gatik’s growing momentum, deepening relationships with vehicle manufacturers, logistics providers, and retail clients to best align their needs with Gatik’s capabilities. By reducing costs and offering dedicated capacity for middle-mile logistics, we aim to deliver on the promise of autonomous freight operations in communities across the United States.
